Kessel: NYPA power the key to Brookhaven’s future

A recent headline in LIBN provided a rare dose of optimism in this time of consistently dismal economic tidings. “Brookhaven Lab,” it proclaimed, “hangs major help-wanted sign.”

The article noted that Brookhaven was looking to hire some 150 scientists in connection with an expansion of the lab that will most notably include the construction of one of the world’s most powerful devices for unlocking the secrets of microscopic particles by subjecting them to high-intensity light beams.

The $912 million project, known as the National Synchrotron Light Source II (the original version has been operating at Brookhaven since 1982), holds immense promise for researchers in such areas as nanotechnology, medicine, biology and development of clean, new energy sources.

Some 1,000 construction workers, about 90 percent from Long Island, are expected to be engaged in building the facility. Its operation should ultimately result in several hundred new permanent jobs at Brookhaven, which currently employs close to 3,000 full-time workers, plays host to about 4,000 visiting scientists each year and benefits the Island and New York state economies to the tune of approximately $1 billion annually.

I’m particularly gratified that the promise of a 15-megawatt allocation of economical hydroelectric power from the New York Power Authority was a key factor in the U.S. Department of Energy’s decision to locate the new light source at Brookhaven. And I’m pleased that NYPA will be able to provide that power from available resources without affecting any of its other customers.

“We now have a great triple threat right here on Long Island,” Gov. David A. Paterson aptly said when he came to the laboratory in late February to announce the 15-year power allocation and the planned construction of the new machine, scheduled for completion in 2015. “The Department of Energy will provide the funding, Brookhaven will provide the expertise and New York will supply the power.”

For all its acknowledged expertise – six Nobel prizes have been awarded for work at the lab – Brookhaven is in fierce competition with other energy-intensive national laboratories for DOE funding. And the department carefully scrutinizes a laboratory’s operating expenses, including the cost of electricity, in deciding where to locate projects. Brookhaven officials have stated that if not for the NYPA power, the lab would not have been selected for the synchrotron light device, and might even have faced a total shutdown within seven years.

NYPA has been supplying electricity to Brookhaven since 1982, with total savings to the lab, and federal taxpayers, of about $250 million. But the new 15-year allocation term is far longer than in the past and, for the first time, the authority’s hydroelectric power will be part of the mix. This will create a healthy combination of stability and greater savings.
Richard Kessel is the president and chief executive officer of the New York Power Authority.